Evening all! I have an AI which may or may not need some TLC on the Akas. They are aluminium and the paint is blistering showing the base metal underneath. Although not too much of an issue at the moment, I'm wondering how you guys deals with this, or not, as the case may be. It's a shame as it makes it look a little shabby and unloved. I give her a wipe down and wash off after an outing on the briney so I am a little concernd that it should have happened, but as the saying goes... (censored) happens!

Happens to everyone, no matter how well you care for her. It's a case of dissimilar medals. If you search the forums, you will find many attempts to slow or stop it from happening, but the most common easy fix is to sand them smooth and repaint (spray-paint).

It will almost surely happen more quickly in a saltwater environment. Also, any scratches, scrapes, etc., will serve to accelerate the process.

I doubt you'd want to spend the money, but you can always strip them and have them anodized. This drives a coating deep (well, deep compared to a paint top coating) into the material. Unless you scratch them beyond the depth of the anodizing, they'd be fairly well protected for a good while.